The Pope of one billion Roman Catholics stood for Jesus Christ.
He stood for Jesus Christ against Communism. He stood for Jesus Christ against right wing dictatorships in Latin America. He stood for Jesus Christ against abortion. He stood for Jesus Christ against the death penalty. He stood for Jesus Christ against birth control. He stood for Jesus Christ against the War in Iraq. He stood for Jesus Christ against the abuses of American capitalism. He stood for Jesus Christ against poverty. He stood for Jesus Christ against pansexual behavior particularly homosexuality. He stood for Jesus Christ in arguing for celibacy for single people - priest or unmarried. He stood for Jesus Christ against what he called a "culture of death".
And when all was said and done, he said quite simply, "Do not be afraid".
From the moment he was appointed pope in 1978, Karol Wojtyla was its youngest at 58, a Pope who would straddle two centuries. He was also its first Pole. At the time he was virtually unknown outside of Poland.
For 26 years he ruled over a church that could have moved in several directions - with German liberals like Hans Kung nipping at Rome's ecclesiology, to ultra conservative archbishops like the French Marcel Lefebvre who opposed any liberalizing changes. And he held it together not with a rod of iron or by using raw naked power, but the open palm of authority and Jesus Christ on his lips.
The Pope's impact on interfaith relations and international affairs was immense and may well be his lasting legacy. His achievements and travels can only be judged as remarkable. Pope John Paul II was theologically conservative, but on social issues he was considered radical. He never succumbed to the siren call to ordain women priests nor allowing male priests to marry. A handful viewed him as a Neanderthal on these issues. He stood firm.
"Many people, especially those of faith, will revere him as a prophetic voice that stood firm against a tide of secularism that was threatening to consign traditional ethics in the western world to oblivion," wrote Ruth Gledhill of the London Times.
For over a quarter of a century, while the Catholic Church was losing millions of practicing Catholics in Western Europe and the Christian Faith was and continues to be in retreat against the forces of post modernism, he stood firm, though he seemed not to have an answer that persuaded Europeans to return to the church.
But the awakening Global South galvanized him to appoint more cardinals than any other pope and from those areas of the world where the gospel was expanding, thus swamping a long-dominated Italian run church and a spiritually dying Europe.
He reached out to Jews, asking for forgiveness, to Orthodox Christians looking for unity and to Muslims with the hand of peace, while refusing to compromise on what it is he and his church believed in. He was a lover of peace, arguing forcefully against all manner of tyranny.
He stood firmly against the world and the ravages of post modernity and the hedonism of Western culture when my church, The Episcopal Church was and is caving in on basic theology and time honored morality.
